Hyderabad FC head coach Thangboi Singto is hopeful that his team will create more chances and score in the upcoming matches of the Indian Super League. The Nizams lost their opening match of the season against Bengaluru at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, Bengaluru by 3-0 on Thursday.
Rahul Bheke scored the opening goal in the fifth minute whereas veteran striker Sunil Chhetri scored twice at the fag end of the game to give a thumping victory to his team.
Hyderabad FC was totally dominated by Bengaluru FC as the former had only 26.7% possession. Furthermore, the Nizams could not even take a solitary shot on target throughout the whole 90 minutes.
“I think we know the challenges that we have in the pre-season before our first match. So I think in the first half, we did okay…” Singto said in the post-match press conference.
“There were two headers, I think, one from Alex (Saji) and the other from Leander (D’Cunha). So that sort of half chance we could not take. Of course, Gurpreet (Singh Sandhu) is the number one keeper. But if they could (have) taken their chances, it (the result) would have been different,” he continued.
Hyderabad FC conceded two goals at the fag end of the match and Singto admitted they could not improve their performance in the second half.
“In the second half, (we aimed to improve) in terms of not only physicality but also the understanding of how we want to play because we have to make changes, thinking of fresh legs will help. But it didn’t really help. We have not been really able to work on tactical aspects because we did not have much time. But overall, in terms of efforts, in terms of the desire to do well, no complaints about this.”
Singto admitted that Bengaluru FC is one of the best teams in the league and feels the last two goals were gifted to the opposition.
“Bengaluru FC are one of the best teams in the league, not only with the foreigners; (but because of) many of their Indian players are national team players,” Singto stated.
“But the positive that we can take is that I told the boys that the last two goals were sort of giveaways. So, we (can) neglect mistakes in the next matches, and hopefully, we’ll create chances and score,” he added.
Hyderabad FC will next take on Punjab FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi on Wednesday.
